Spicing Up the Small Business Community in Greater Los Angeles

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BANK OF AMERICARTP- TAPATÍO- As Produced Video Transcript

SUPER: Marina Lara, Manager, Las Trancas Restaurant

Maria Lara: Tapatío is really important to this restaurant. When we bring out dishes to the table that’s the first thing that people grab. Everything could be missing, even the salt and pepper. There has to be Tapatío.

SUPER: Luis Saavedra, Jr., General Manager, Tapatío Hot Sauce

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: Being here in Southern California we are among the people who supported us from the very beginning.

Maria Lara: In this city, I know that there is not one home that doesn’t have Tapatío.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: Having the plant located here is definitely a privilege.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: The company started in 1972 when my father worked in the aerospace industry. My mother, my father they made this hot sauce where they would sell it to their co-workers.SUPER: Luis Saavedra Sr., General Manager, Tapatío Hot Sauce

Luis Saavedra Sr.: There were only three hot sauces in the market here. We were missing the real Mexican hot sauce.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: People thought he was crazy; but he believed in it and he’s a hard working man. If the lights are on, he’s here.

Luis Saavedra Sr.: When I started to get busier, my son started to help me out along with my two daughters.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: After about the fifth year, more people started demanding it. There were more repeat orders, larger orders.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: We got our customers from Dubai; they don’t pay but they do buy.

Family 1: Ohhhh!

Family 2: That’s what we call a Louie!

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: Being that family-run business it brings that closeness, it brings that tightness.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: I was going to tell you a pizza joke but it was a little too cheesy

Family 3: It will stop faster if we just laugh and move on.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: We also translate that to the employees. They employees feel that they’re a part of the family. Now we have nationwide distribution and we also have sales in foreign countries.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: Bank of America has been with us since the very beginning.

SUPER: Peter Drake, SVP Business Development, Bank of America

Peter Drake: We’re a part of their team and we can help them to go to the next level.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: They were always there when we needed to buy machinery. They were there when we needed to finance the construction of these buildings.

Peter Drake: Tapatío is just a true American success story.

Luis Saavedra, Jr.: It’s a company where the family can work together to make a great product that everyone can enjoy.

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Hot Sauce Hobby to International Sensation

When the aerospace company that employed Jose-Luis Saavedra shuttered in 1971, he seized the opportunity to turn a longtime hobby into his life’s work. He took on part-time jobs to pay the bills and spent the rest of his time making and selling hot sauce.

Saavedra and his wife spent years perfecting the formula for an authentic Mexican hot sauce. There wasn’t one like it on the market. He made frequent trips to the border to procure the necessary spices and glassware, and sold the finished product to friends and neighbors.

Five years passed before Saavedra started selling more cases than bottles. Large, repeat orders from local grocery stores and restaurants enabled him to focus on his brand, Tapatio Hot Sauce, full-time. “I opened the business in order to pay for my kids’ school – that’s it,” said Saavedra Sr. “I never thought I would sell the product the way we’re selling it now.”

By the mid-1980s, Saavedra Sr. needed to increase production in order to meet demand from across the western United States. He moved his operation from a rental space with 500 square feet to one with 8,000 and asked his son, Luis Saavedra Jr., to become a full-time business partner.

Saavedra Sr. established a banking relationship with Bank of America in 1984. When it came time for the business to expand again – quadrupling in size – he approached his client manager, Peter Drake.

Bank of America helped the family purchase its current facility in 1995 and has since connected them with everything from equipment loans to wealth management services. Saavedra Sr. likens their relationship to a marriage. Other banks have courted his business, but his loyalty has paid off.

“We’ve really been able to grow with the company,” said Drake. “It’s great to be a small part of a really fantastic American success story.”

Today, the company employs 20 people and produces in two weeks what Saavedra Sr. used to sell in a year. Tapatio Hot Sauce has become a popular brand seen on tables and television. There is even a line of potato chips flavored with the product. The Tapatio name is a constant reminder of the family’s modest beginnings; a “tapatio” is a native of Guadalajara, Mexico.

At age 84, Saavedra Sr. continues to report to work each day alongside his three grown children. His entrepreneurial spirit – combined with support from family and friends like Bank of America – have made Tapatio Hot Sauce an international sensation.

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